Hermione woke up alone in a soft, king sized bed. The clock on the bedside table read 7:32am. She sat up and the events of last night came rushing back to her; her parents, halfway to Australia with no memory of her, Voldemort taking her from her home, him wanting her to carry his child, and Draco Malfoy being nice to her. Tears started welling up in her eyes realizing that any sort of escape would be impossible. She might not ever be able to see Harry or Ron ever again. Sobs started wracking her body as she buried her head in her hands. Why her? Why couldn't Voldemort choose someone else for this task? She was a muggle born for Merlin's sake!

After crying for several minutes, Hermione wiped her face and got up in search of a bathroom. She found it on the opposite side of the enormous room from the bed. Not hearing anything on the other side of the door, Hermione went in. Once inside, she gasped; the white marble bathroom was at least the size of the Prefects bathroom. She was so occupied by the emerald detailing everywhere, that she didn't see anyone in there until she bumped into a half naked Draco.

"Oh my god! I am so sorry!" She squeaked, turning red and rushing back to the bedroom, but Draco caught her arm.

"It's okay," he said with a smile, "I'm done in here so, it's all yours. There are towels on the racks and your trunk's in here as well." He traipsed out of the bathroom, closing the door after him. Hermione took deep breaths, calming herself as she started running her bathwater. She quickly undressed herself and slid into the warm water. As she bathed herself, she wondered why Draco was being so nice to her. Hermione decided that she would confront him about it later, seeing as she was very hungry, but afraid to go anywhere alone. She let the water drain and got out, grabbing one of the many black plush towels from the rack.

Her trunk was by the steps leading up to the large bathtub, looking like it was searched through when she unlocked it. With a sigh, she trifled through her belongings, trying to find something nice to wear as she knew that breakfast was probably a formal affair. She finally settled on a deep plum colored, knee length, eyelet dress. She found a white cardigan to go with it along with a long white satin ribbon that she tied around her waist. Hermione finally found a pair of white cork slingback wedges in the bottom of her trunk. 'Gotta look good, right?' she thought to herself with a snort. She tried to dry her hair with the towel as best she could, but without her wand, it would soon become a frizzy mess. A knock on the door made her jump and with a slightly shaky voice she answered.

"C-come in!" Draco came in wearing a midnight blue silk button down shirt and black trousers. His hair was playfully tousled, as if he just rolled out of bed. His silver eyes were raking over her body with interest.

"You, you look nice. It's time for breakfast. I'm warning you, He's gonna be there. So is my Aunt Bella, my Mum and Dad, and most of the other Deatheaters. He's given all of them strict orders not to harm you in any way, they will most likely insult you, but not harm you. Greyback isn't here today, but he will be making an appearance soon." He informed her, in an apologetic way.

"Thanks. Can I borrow your wand? I only want to fix my hair, if I don't try to work with it, it'll become impossible." She asked, pleading with her eyes. He nodded and handed it to her. She quietly muttered the charm to dry her hair and then she used the charm that smoothed it out into long, perfect little ringlets just above her waist. Hermione gave the wand back to Draco, thanking him.

Draco led the way out of the room and onto the slight balcony that overlooked the foyer. There was a large emerald colored 'M' in the middle of the grey granite floor with a silver snake weaving in and out of the letter. A large marble fireplace dominated the left side of the foyer, plants placed artistically around the room, and many portraits' eyes following Hermione and Draco as they slowly made their way down the grand staircase. She also noticed several unmarked doors on the walls behind her as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Draco led her down a hallway that led off two different ways. They went to the hall on the left side.

"The other hall is towards the kitchen; we're going to the dining room," They stopped suddenly at a large black door. Draco opened it and stepped inside. Hermione followed him and instantly regretted it; sitting at a long table as promised were Voldemort at the head of the table, Bellatrix, Narcissa, Lucius, and many, many other Deatheaters. The all looked up at Hermione and Draco while they made their way over to their designated seats to the right of Voldemort. Draco sat on Hermione's right, and Voldemort on her left.

"Did you sleep well, Hermione?" Voldemort asked, causing every person in the room to look at her. She swallowed the lump rising in her throat and just nodded her head, knowing that's all she could accomplish without bursting into tears. "Good, you will have a new room if you like, to ease your comfort. You will be here a long time, Hermione. A very long time." Hermione felt her lip start to tremble and she looked down at her plate.

"What? Is the filthy mudblood scared?" Bellatrix teased, sneering at Hermione. She just kept looking down at her plate, hoping Bellatrix would stop.

"Enough!" Voldemort yelled, standing up in his chair. "If you have nothing pleasant to say, you will not say it at all. Miss Granger is an extremely important piece of my plan; I need her both emotionally and physically well for this. Failure to do so, you will find yourself at the end of my wand, screaming in agonizing pain." Everyone was silent. Hermione played with her food throughout the meal; not wanting to eat anything despite her aching hunger. When Voldemort dismissed everyone, she stood up immediately along with Draco. As Draco was about to lead them out the door, Voldemort called them over.

"I need to discuss matters with the both of you, if you would be so kind. Why don't you join me in the parlor in half an hour." And with that, he dissapparated to an unknown location. Hermione looked up at Draco, silently asking where they would go and pass the time.

"Let's go to my room, as it's the most private room in the house." As they made their way up to his room, Hermione didn't dare say anything with the chance of being overheard. Once there, Draco plopped down on his bed, looking up at Hermione expectantly. She paced in front of the bed as she spoke.

"Why am I here? Why are you so nice to me? I-I just want to go home!" She broke at the last part, putting her head in her hands once more. Draco answered her truthfully.

"You're here because He wants an heir. I don't know why He chose you, but he did. I'm sure he has his reasons as to why. And as for why I'm being nice to you, well, it's a long story really. When I was born, my father wanted me to be just like him; a cold, muggle hating, arrogant man. My mother, was actually kind hearted and down to Earth. So, my father banished my mother from when I was born, until I started Hogwarts. By then, the damage was too great. I was just as cold as him. My mother would weep at the things I would do to other people, whereas my father would praise me.

After fifth year, when my father was sent to Azkaban, my perspective on life changed; the biggest negative influence was gone. And the summer before sixth year, I was actually happy. My mother and I would go out on the town, go to a muggle movie theatre, muggle arcades, and carnivals. But when He gave me the task to kill Dumbledore, or he would kill my mother, I changed again. I was that cold man, only wanting to do the task to save her. And when my father was broken out of Azkaban, I stayed as far away from him as I could. Only when Snape killed Dumbledore did I become kinder. I still have to put on a mask in front of all the Deatheaters and Him, but when I'm around my mother, or you, I try to be nice.

"I just want to apologize for being a foul git to you all through school. I have changed and I would love it if we could clean the slate and start fresh. I know that your scared and alone, but I'm always here for you. These next few years are going to be very hard on all of us, especially you. And I don't want you to feel as if you can't trust anyone. I get if you don't want to have anything to do with me, but my offer will always stand." He finished, looking up at her. Hermione did the unthinkable and hugged him. Draco was shocked for a moment, but he carefully returned the hug.

"Thank you, I want to apologize for being rude back to you. And in third year, I want to say I'm sorry for punching you in the face. That was completely uncalled for and quite embarrassing."

"It's okay; we start fresh now. And it was actually a nice punch," He said, making Hermione giggle. You can feel free to sleep in here, until you get your own room. Even then you can still sleep in here. I don't mind." He said, smiling slightly. Hermione smiled back, feeling a little better about the situation at hand.

"I'm a little hungry, but I was too scared to eat in front of them." Hermione started, unsure of how to ask for food.

"Oh, no problem," He said, walking over to his bedroom door and leading Hermione back down to the kitchen. About a half a dozen house elves were running around, cleaning things, making food, and washing laundry.

"Winkle! Can you fix Hermione some food?" Draco asked a small house elf, who was finishing putting away silverware.

"Of course! Winkle would be honored to fix this young lady food!" And she scurried off to find some food for Hermione.

"You have quite a few house elves," Hermione commented.

"We have more, but we don't need them. There only here for show; all they do is clean the already clean house, cook food that can be cooked by someone other than them, they do laundry that can be done with a wave of a wand, and clean dishes that can be done with a wave of a wand. It's absurd." He said, sourly. Winkle came back shortly with a picnic basket full of food for Hermione.

"Thank you!" Hermione and Draco said at the same time. They looked at each other and looked away. Draco showed Hermione a small table in the corner of the kitchen and sat they both sat down, nibbling on the food while chatting quietly. A grandfather clock behind Draco chimed, signaling them that they had to go and meet Voldemort in the parlor. Hermione gave a small sigh, and stood up. She thanked the house elves along with Draco and followed him to the parlor. Draco stopped outside a plain white door and knocked three times and waited for the voice beckoning them inside. The door opened, revealing Voldemort lounging on a deep green arm chair in front of a large fire-place. A small matching green love seat was across from his "throne".

"Please, sit down, make yourselves comfortable." He said, pleasantly while gesturing towards the couch. Hermione and Draco slowly sat together on the couch, keeping their eyes away from Voldemort's red ones. "You both are here because you need to be informed of what will go on for these next couple of years. I will give Hermione some time to get adjusted to life here, at the Manor, but only three months. Then she will be trying for the baby. While you are pregnant, you will be watched 24/7, just to be sure that you don't harm yourself or the baby. You will be afforded the luxury to have anything you want whenever you want it. No matter what it is or the price. If you wish to be taken out in public, we will alter your appearance and you will have several guards. These trips won't happen often.

"Now, I know you're wondering how you will be getting pregnant with my child. It won't be the old fashioned way, I can tell you that. We will have a blood-exchanging ceremony. And there, I will drain the blood of an unworthy pureblood and you will be injected with it. A few days after the ceremony is complete, you will take an altered potion that will make you pregnant. The potion will be genetically perfect; it will have all of the traits I want it to have, it will be male, and he will be extremely powerful from birth.

Once the child is born, we will have a christening ceremony where he will take my last name. A few weeks after the christening, you will be married to someone which I will choose, and you will move out of the Manor and into another safe house. There, you may have as many children as you please and live the rest of your life there with your husband. And when the time comes for the boy to go to Hogwarts, he will go for every year. During the summers, he is to be trained by the best teachers in the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, dueling, and Quidditch. Once he is of age, he will be crowned ruler of the Wizarding World, whether I am in charge, or dead. He will automatically have the power to make people do what he wants. That is all, you may go," Voldemort dismissed them with the wave of his skeletal hand. Hermione was in complete shock. She had three months to get used to life at the Manor. And after that, she had to have Voldemort's child. Draco led Hermione back up to his room.

"What am I going to do?" Hermione asked herself, pacing Draco's room. "I only have a few months before I have to have a baby. His baby!" She collapsed on the floor in tears.

"Hermione, you'll be okay. I promise," Draco said, rubbing her back in slow circles. Hermione's body was wracked in sobs once more that day. She was stressed about the up-coming year already and now she has to worry about her parents safety, Harry and Ron, and having this baby. Hermione suddenly got up and ran to the bathroom. She locked the door and sat down on the cold marble floor.

With her head in her hands, Hermione thought things over; she wouldn't be able to escape the manor in any way, so why even fight it and having Voldemort's baby was inevitable. Her thoughts then drifted to her friends and family. Not being able to have any sort of contact with them for the rest of her life would ruin her. But, if she were to have the baby and get married off to whomever was chosen for her, she might be able to escape. It would take years, but the end result would be worth it.

After an hour of debating on what to do, Hermione finally decided to go along with it. She would take the potion willingly and marry whoever she had to. She would do this for Harry, for Ron, Ginny, Molly, Arthur, Hagrid, Dumbledore, and her parents. Hermione would survive this. She wouldn't give up. But she won't fight either. A knock on the door startled her and shook her out of her thoughts.

"Hermione?" Draco called out, "Are you okay?" Hermione stood up and splashed some cold water on her face from the faucet. She dried herself with the black hand towel on the hanger near the sink. Once she looked semi-presentable, she unlocked the door and Draco came in. "I've been worried about you. It's been nearly an hour and you left in bad shape," He said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, looking sheepish.

"I'm fine now, thanks," Hermione said quietly, looking at the floor. There was a stretch of silence until Draco pulled something out of his pocket.

"Oh, while you were in here, this came for you," He gave her her wand back. Hermione inspected it, but finding nothing unusual about it. "They modified it to only be able to cast simple charms. Cleaning, grooming, stuff like that. If you try anything too big, it won't do anything." Hermione felt her mood instantly lift, even if she couldn't use a fully functioning wand, at least she had her wand back. She tried out a couple of charms before she was fully satisfied and put it in the hidden holster in her dress. Draco led them back into his bedroom where Crookshanks was sitting on the rug in front of the fireplace.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione cried, rushing towards the orange tabby cat. She scooped him up in her arms and pressed the side of her face into his fur. Smiling, Hermione looked at Draco in utter surprise, waiting for him to explain.

"When you were taken, there was no cat to be found in your house. Apparently, after you got here, he followed you. He just arrived while we were in the parlor. My mother came up here with him and left him here. Everyone has been given specific instructions not to harm him in any way," Draco finished, shrugging. Hermione nodded and put him back on the warm rug. He curled into a ball and fell asleep instantly.

"Thank you, for everything. I don't know what I'd do without you," Hermione thanked Draco, smiling slightly. Draco nodded and went over to sit on his bed, reading a thick novel. Hermione looked around the room for something to do, but found nothing. She scanned the bookshelves, but all she found were books on the Dark Arts or Pureblood History. Sighing, she sat down on the black leather sofa, where she stared blankly at the wall. After several minutes of day-dreaming, Draco cleared his throat.

"You seem bored, would you like to read something?" He asked, gesturing towards his bookshelf. Hermione shook her head.

"They're all about the Dark Arts or Purebloods."

"No they aren't. Come here," Draco said, signaling for her to come over to the book shelf. Once there, Hermione sat there, waiting for an explanation when Draco pulled out a book at random. He opened the book and it turned out to be Shakespeare's Hamlet. Looking up in awe, Hermione took the book. "My father isn't all that fond of muggle things, even books. So, I after I bought all these muggle books, I transfigured their covers to appear as magic books, Dark magic books."

"That's really quite smart, actually," Hermione said, surprisingly.

"Thanks, I try," Draco teased. Hermione shook her head, smiling on her way back to the couch where she read the tragedy of Hamlet. Every hour, a clock in the distance would chime, identifying the time. Hermione finished the book rather quickly and put it back on the shelf about a quarter before six. Draco looked up and glanced at the clock.

"It's almost time for dinner. Dress is formal so you might want to wear an evening gown or something," Draco mentioned as he went into his closet. Hermione traipsed into the bathroom for what seemed like the millionth time that day and searched through her trunk to find something that would be suitable for dinner. Seeing as it was a formal occasion, she eliminated any dress that was not floor length, but since she didn't have all the money in the world like the Malfoy's, she only had one thing; a floor length, long-sleeved, ruby red gown that her parents gave her for her seventeenth birthday.

After finding some gold jewelry and her gold flats to accent her Gryffindor look, Hermione used her wand to braid her hair in a messy bun. She kept her makeup minimal and hid her wand inside of her sleeve. She checked her reflection once more, making sure she looked formal enough. Her face was pale and haggard already from worry. Her eyes looked dull and boring, not their usual bright amber color. The gown, however, was simply stunning; it was slightly form fitting on the torso, but it flowed away from Hermione starting at the waist, the red satin pooling at her feet. She gulped before she picked up her skirt, making sure not to trip on it on her way back into Draco's room.

"You ready?" Draco asked, straitening his sleeves on the black silk button up shirt he was wearing. His look was the expected Death Eater black on black, but his white blonde hair, silver eyes, and pale skin somehow made the outfit more, bright somehow. Hermione nodded and took a deep breath. They slowly made their way down the hall and down the grand staircase. You could hear soft piano music and laughter floating through the house. A house elf opened the ballroom door and inside were Death Eaters, more Death Eaters, and their Dark Lord, Voldemort.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Hermione and Draco. Hermione started shaking from the feel of everyone's eye on her; she wasn't accustomed to everyone looking at her all the time and it made her uncomfortable. As the two walked through the crowd, Hermione was the only one wearing another color other than black, and it made her more uncomfortable than before. After a moment of silence and awkward glares, the music started back up again and people returned to conversing with one another. Draco brought Hermione to a small round table in the corner of the room where no one would notice them when a high pitched squeal caused them to stop and turn around.

"Drakey! Oh, baby! I've been wondering when I'd see you next!" An overly excited Pansy Parkinson squealed as she ran up to Draco and kissed him full on the mouth while her arms slipped around his neck. Draco gingerly pried her hands off of him and put them back to her side.

"Pansy, now is really not the time for your childish antics," Draco snarled while pulling out a chair for Hermione. She sat down and averted her gaze from Pansy's death glare towards her.

"What the hell is that mudblood doing here?" She screeched, her fists clenching into tiny balls at her side.

"She's here because she is to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes. If you actually paid attention at the meetings, you would know," He spat back, taking a seat next to Hermione. Pansy raised her perfectly arched eyebrows in shock.

"Why are you sitting with such filth, Draco? She deserves to be alone and not graced with your god-like presence!" Pansy's face was beginning to redden with fury, her tiny body trembling slightly.

"It's my duty to stay with her, whether you like it or not. And if you don't quiet down, I will have you removed!" Draco shot back, causing Pansy to unclench her fists and sit down quietly next to him.

"I'm sorry, Drakey. I just missed you," She cooed in a disgustingly sweet voice, batting her fake eyelashes at him. Draco shook his head and downed a glass of champagne that was served to him by a house elf. Pansy stayed for a few moments, trying to make some sort of conversation with Draco, but failed.

"I'll be right back, Drakey. I need to use the ladies room," She excused herself, straightening her black mini dress. She stumbled on her heels, but quickly regaining balance after looking around to see if anyone noticed. Draco snickered and Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the girl. She was throwing herself at Draco by wearing skin tight clothing that was several sizes too small, wearing heels that were clearly not meant for her, and putting a ton of makeup on that pretty face of hers. If she just toned it down and let her natural beauty shine through, maybe her and Draco would be happy together.

Someone cleared their throat and all was silent. Voldemort was motioning for everyone to take a seat while he spoke.

"Fellow Death Eaters, I have called you here tonight for a celebration of sorts; we have managed to capture the infamous Hermione Granger from her home before departing for the Hogwarts Express," Voldemort announced. Everyone starting clapping as Pansy made it back to her seat.

"Now, while Ms. Granger is living here, she it to be treated with the upmost respect. If I find that you are not, you will be most severely punished," All was silent and no one moved, "But on a lighter note, I will have an heir, a successor, to carry on my evildoings in the future. To rule in my name. To proceed to rule a Wizarding Empire in which I have created!" Every Death Eater in the room stood up and cheered. Some shot green sparks up with their wands. "Now, my friends, please show me your flag, our symbol of power!" Voldemort cried, as everyone raised their left arms and pulled up their sleeves in celebration. "Hermione Granger," Voldemort said after the noise died down, "One day you too, will bear this symbol of power."

A/N: How'd you guys like it? I had to mash up two chapters to get this one the way I wanted it. I hope that it'll be okay. I'm working furiously on an acceptable version of this story for this site because I want to know what you guys think! Please review! I worked really hard on this chapter and it only takes about a minute! :)